Andhra Pradesh

Clueless police close Emanuels' case

By K. Srinivas Reddy

Conrad Emanuel and his wife Leela Emanuel, who were murdered in their house in West Marredpally in 2002. The killers are still at large. Photo: Satish H . 16_05_2004.

HYDERABAD, MAY 16. The Emanuels usually kept to themselves. But for a short ride from their home to the nearby Secunderabad Club, they never ventured out.

The old palatial building was not frequented much by friends and very few close relatives would call on them at home. Conrad Emanuel and Leela Emanuel were sort of a mystery for everyone - a puzzle for their kith and kin.

And their violent death unfolded yet another mystery wrapped in a riddle. The elderly couple were killed in a most gruesome manner and after two years, the police investigation ended in cul de sac. There was absolutely no progress and crime number 10/2002 of Marredpally police station, registered on January 18, ended up as a `closed' case of twin murders.

Conrad was with Voltas for a long time and was working with a private company while his wife was a retired librarian of the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI). On January 18, 2002, brothers of Conrad got worried when they were told that none was answering the doorbell. Conrad's brother, Lenny, who rushed to the house found the main door locked from inside but the rear door was open.

With a palpitating heart, he entered inside only to find the body of Leela in a pool of blood in the bed while Conrad was not found. A worried Lenny called up his relatives who, in turn, alerted the police. When police rushed there, they found a stark naked Conrad lying unconscious in one of the bathrooms and Leela with her head smashed in the bed. Conrad, too, was obviously hit on his head and the bruises on his body indicated that he was severely beaten up.

Conrad lived for next 17 days occasionally mumbling about "entry of four persons into the house" and breathed his last. The police could not find any clues but for some Pan Parag sachets and smoked beedis on the roof indicating that the assailants had waited upstairs. The house was completely ransacked and the relatives could not say what was stolen. Interestingly, a lot of electronic gadgets were untouched.

For the police, it was a classic whodunit case. The Emanuels had employed a cook, Francis, but he, too, could not provide any clue.

The case was transferred to the Detective Department but sleuths could not achieve any progress. What was the motive for the gruesome murders remained a question unanswered even now.

The police had officially closed investigation into the case and the grief-stricken relatives were notified.

But what puzzled the relatives more was a scribbled note, possibly by Leela, found in a scratch pad she always used to keep at the bedside.

The scratchy handwriting makes it difficult to read, but one could decipher the words, "Four searching house," "Help," "He doesn't want us know," "Feels bad to take from up" and "Dictaphone."

But the irony is that relatives found the note very recently after the case has been officially closed. Would the last words of Leela help the police solve the murder mystery now?

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